As the world's traditional energy sources come under scrutiny due to dwindling supply and negative environmental impact, a global effort is being made into alternative energy systems. One such system involves the use of ...

The need for innovation in the renewable energy sector is an ever-growing concern. With national-level disasters in the Gulf of Mexico, the necessity to begin the drive to develop effective and practical alternative energy ...

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the specific project value of a chemical company that undertook a major expansion in the late 1990s. The actual details of the investment were unique and conditional on the level ...

This thesis characterizes the flow behavior of a Hydraforce SP08-47CL valve given a specific pulse-width modulation (pwm) duty cycle. With a description of valve behavior, a feed-forward term can be implemented in the ...

Transfemoral amputees exhibit both increased metabolic consumption and gait asymmetry during level ground walking. A variable damping control strategy has been developed for swing extension in order to improve gait symmetry ...

Timbre describes the perceptual difference between sounds with the same loudness and pitch generated from different sources such as different instruments. Each instrument has its own unique timbre making it distinguishable. ...

The author presents a concept for a vertical axis wind turbine that utilizes each blade's entire rotational cycle for power generation. Each blade has its own vertical axis of rotation and is constrained to rotate at the ...

To allow the widespread use of three dimensional patterns on walls, the manufacturing cost must be reduced. The goal of this project is to design a machine for vertical axis movement which can be measured and controlled. ...

This thesis presents, explores, and documents the validation of a mechanical mechanism dubbed Vibration-Induced Rotation, or VIR. The tendency of threaded fasteners to move under the influence of vibrations is well known, ...

Vibrotactile displays have been created to aid vision or hearing through the sense of touch. These displays communicate with the user to provide information. The focus of this thesis was to determine how concurrent activity ...

This research focused on the evaluation of a tactile display that is used for navigation and communication. In the first experiment, a four by four array of vibrating motors (tactors) was mounted on the torso while the ...

An experimental study was performed to determine whether or not collagen-GAG scaffolds exhibit linear viscoelastic behavior. Tension tests were performed on dry and hydrated engineered collagen-GAG scaffolds in order to ...

Introduction: Cells are exposed to a wide variety of forces within the human body, and the mechanisms by which cells respond to these forces are largely unknown. From altering gene transcription in the cell nucleus to ...

MIT has a vibrant culture of innovation and a rich history of entrepreneurship. Over the years, many organizations, programs, centers, courses, and competitions have been created to kindle, foster, and celebrate the ...

Improving efficiency is the main target for improving rapidly developing water desalination technologies such as air gap membrane distillation (AGMD). While the system is dominated by heat and mass transfer resistances in ...